Ceramophile Alfred Museum

Volume XXIX Number 1 Spring 2018

Brian Oglesbee

Contents Tribute to ...... 2 Director’s Remarks...... 4 Exhibitions 2017...... 6 Visitors...... 7 Current Exhibitions...... 9 Upcoming Exhibitions...... 12 Acquisitions and Promised Gifts...... 13 Museum as Classroom...... 20 Staff Profile: Bill Giese...... 23 Endowing the Museum Directorship...... 23 Ted Randall Lecture...... 24 Friends of the Museum...... 28

Cover – Cristina Córdova, with her exhibition Jungla, February 2 – July 29, 2018, Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, left: A la montaña, 2015, ceramic, 44" x 19" x 6", on loan from Lisa Shaffer Anderson and Dudley Buist Anderson Photo by Brian Oglesbee

Facing page – Stanley Rosen retrospective exhibition Holding the Line, October 19, 2017 – January 1, 2018

Above – Minyao: art of the everyday – Chinese Folk Pottery exhibition, October 19, 2017 – January 1, 2018 1 Brian Oglesbee 2 Betty Woodman 1930-2018

Impermanence is the one thing we can count on. We know that, as it resides at the center of our lives. Change is the great facilitator. We often look forward to it. But, today, comes the news of Betty Woodman’s passing. On learning the news, I instantly felt very much alone – suddenly without an important component of how I ordered the universe. The feeling lingers and that lingering is a pause that will remain tender for a time from sorrow. Betty, an unapologetic visionary of twentieth century ceramics, was a great ceramic artist. She was one of the very best history has so far offered the ceramic art world and via that path the art world itself. I count myself one of the many who understand deeply that we have been fortunate to have lived in the time of Betty Woodman. She was my teacher, my dear friend, and forever will be. I fill the sudden emptiness with memories. They will have to do. They are a rich resource for me and for ceramic art. Betty is there in our hearts and minds and she is there in her glorious body of work as an artist, which lives perpetually in the present.

Like many significant ceramic artists, Betty studied at Alfred and later taught a semester as a visiting artist in the acclaimed Ceramic Art Division of the School of Art and Design, State College of Ceramics at . In and out of class she inspired with every move she made. Her students as well as future generations of ceramic artists, knowingly or not, share in the supportive touch of Betty’s extended hand of welcome – welcome to the rigors, the disappointments and the triumphs of being an artist. Pay attention and find yourself. Betty always took notice and cared.

The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum celebrates the life of Betty Woodman. Institutions like ours are the gateway to what she so passionately believed in – the past and future of the art born of clay, glaze and fire.

Wayne Higby January 3, 2018

Facing page: Betty Woodman, Coffee Pot Vase, 1983, earthenware, glazed, 18 1/2" x 14 1/2" x 7 3/8", gift of and Mark Del Vecchio, 1997.129 Photo by Brian Oglesbee

3 Director’s Remarks

The Alfred Ceramic Art he Alfred Ceramic Art Museum celebrated a one-year anniversary on October, 28, T2017. It may seem odd to celebrate a one-year anniversary, but for the Museum, Museum celebrated a one- finally housed in its new facility, it is a marker of major significance. Each day that year anniversary on October, I enter the Museum, I take a look around at the magnificent facility as well as the important works on display and marvel at the quality that surrounds me. The Museum 28, 2017. It may seem odd team has been running all aspects of the Museum with great spirit and camaraderie. to celebrate a one-year There is a feeling of engagement in an important mission, as a coordinated anniversary, but for the commitment to excellence and the future drives our work. Honoring the legendary past of Alfred Ceramic Art while reaching for new possibilities to educate and inspire Museum, finally housed in its is good, challenging work. new facility, it is a marker of We welcome all our visitors with an invitation to enjoy the luxury of our building major significance. and the opportunity to see excellent art, beautifully presented. The opportunity to meet new and returning visitors is a most rewarding part of our work. This past fall, the Museum mounted three exhibitions - Stanley Rosen: Holding the Line, Kelcy Chase Folsom: hereafter and Minyao: art of the everyday, a presentation of Chinese Folk Pottery. The Museum opened these exhibitions on October 19 and has since then averaged over 800 visitors a month. Well, Alfred is not New York City, but the Museum is beginning to establish itself. Community members, University students, faculty and staff, Alfred University Alumni, high school and elementary school students, dignitaries from other important universities and museums in the region, area visitors as well as those from across New York State, the nation and the world have walked through the Museum doors to see these exhibitions. Those who support the Museum with their memberships and gifts are the core that sustains this Caitlin Brown Caitlin Stanley Rosen arrives to view his exhibition, October 18, 2018

4 significant endeavor. We are certainly most grateful for the commitment that they make to our future.

This past year, the Museum helped to establish the monthly Alfred Art Walk, a community-wide celebration of art and artists, coordinated by Caitlin Brown the

Museum’s Operations and Programs Higby Wayne Stanley Rosen and Kelcy Chase Folsom share insights, October 18, 2017 Manager. This event acknowledges the well-known history of Alfred as a center conversing with Kelcy Chase Folsom of vision and art afforded our world by for the arts, which has been greatly whose terrific exhibition accompanied Betty Woodman, , Paula enhanced by classical music during the Stanley’s. The conversation between Winokur, John Glick, Mario Prisco and annual summer, MostArts Festival. them was lengthy and a teaching to David Weiss. They will remain always listen in on. Stanley got Chase and his alive in our memories of what is best in The opportunity for the Museum to work with clear insight. The exchange art and life. feature the retrospective exhibition of between them was dynamic – pure Stanley Rosen’s work was a defining revelation as they each crossed the gap As time moves forward the mission of the moment. We are grateful to curator of their generations. Artist to artist, the Museum to care for ceramic art becomes Jamie Franklin and the Bennington connection was a genuine reaching out less and less abstract. Caring for the art Museum, Bennington, Vermont for to each other full of respect and concern. is also caring for the memories. Along originating the exhibition and making it What a privilege it was to have these with the facts of history the Museum available to us. This exhibition confirmed two artists together in the same space, houses the spirit of the artists, those the aspirations of the Museum to mount place and time. Their work as artists with names and those whose names significant art revealing new insights is different, yet at the core, alike – the are unknown. On view currently is an and understandings. Stanley’s work search for meaning, the vulnerability and exquisite installation of seldom seen is of major importance to twentieth deep commitment to individual purpose. ceramic work by our Alfred legends. century American ceramic art. It was an Alfred University at its best was present Those familiar with these artists - Binns, honor to have his work in the Museum. here as these two – one the master Fosdick, Harder, Randall, Rhodes, A singularly astonishing, emotionally wizard, the other the visionary of a new Parry, Turner, Cushing – will especially rewarding moment occurred as Stanley generation touched base. enjoy seeing this exhibition and sharing first witnessed his work in the Museum. memories. Those less familiar with these His presence, unattended in the center of The annual publication of Ceramophile artists will learn about the art that was this life’s work, created an indelible image always allows a pause for reflection. at the core of their historically important for me as well as for the other individuals As Museum Director, I wish to take the impact on American Ceramic Art. who witnessed this moment of mind and opportunity to acknowledge - on the part memory as he assessed his meaning as of myself, our Museum staff and all our an artist – a great one to be sure. members - the passing of those who Director and Chief Curator Another one of my favorite moments have been of special importance to Alfred Alfred Ceramic Art Museum at Alfred during the time Stanley spent in the Ceramic Art and to the Museum. We will University Museum is captured in a photo of him forever be grateful for the significant gift

5 Exhibitions 2017 Brian Oglesbee Brian Oglesbee hereafter, installation by Kelcy Chase Folsom hereafter, installation by Kelcy Chase Folsom

Holding the Line: Ceramic hereafter: Kelcy Chase Folsom, Minyao: art of the everyday featured by Stanley Rosen revealed for the first presented the work of Alfred University’s a collection of Chinese Folk Pottery. In time the major significance of Rosen to Robert Chapman Turner Teaching 1998, two Michigan ceramists—Marie twentieth century American ceramic art Fellow in Ceramic Art. This provocative, Woo and John Stephenson—received (please note image of Stanley Rosen mixed media exhibition was realized as grants from the Asian Cultural Council exhibition on the inside front cover). an installation made up of a number and the Rockefeller Foundation to of works. Folsom’s approach to his explore the diverse folk pottery traditions In the late 1950s, Stanley Rosen (MFA art via installation was, in part, an of China. The result was to shine a Alfred, 1956) was in the vanguard of acknowledgement of theater, where light on this culturally important, but American ceramics. He was one of myths, stories and lies are common disappearing art form. a small cohort—among them Peter ground for truth. Voulkos, John Mason, and Ken Price— who revolutionized ceramics, making of it a freely inventive and richly expressive art form. Then he stepped away from the spotlight to reemerge in his 90’s as a true visionary.

6 Visitors Caitlin Brown Caitlin Museum Associate Bill Giese with Professor Emeritus of Ceramic Art and AU Alumnus (’52) Wallace Higgins, pictured with his work in the exhibition Core Sample: Selections from the Permanent Collection

Charlotte Herrera, ACAM Advisory Board member with Dr. Shirley Jones studying sculpture made by her uncle William E. Artis: Memorial Art Gallery Director’s Circle Society tour viewing head, 1946, ceramic, unglazed, 13" x 7 1/4" x 7 5/8", Visiting Artist Core Sample: Additional Findings. Photo by Caitlin Brown Collection, gift of the artist, 1946.1. Photo by Susan Kowalczyk

7 Visitors continued Caitlin Brown Caitlin , Syracuse, NY, symposium - From Funk to Punk: Left Coast Ceramics - participants' visit to ACAM Caitlin Brown Caitlin Brown Caitlin Elizabeth Dunbar, Director & CEO of Everson Museum of Art and DJ Hellerman, Flower City Pottery Invitational 2017 artists (left to Everson curator of Arts and Programs examine work by Stanley Rosen right) Kristen Kieffer, 2017 Perkins Lecturer, Mary Barringer and Shoko Teruyama enjoying work in the exhibition Minyao: Chinese Folk Pottery

8 Current Exhibitions

On February 2, 2018, the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum opened two new exhibitions, both of which give meaning to the mission of the Museum. Our mission clearly emphasizes a professional interest in modern and contemporary American ceramics. Cristina Córdova’s exhibition Jungla highlights that concern with true magnificence. The Museum’s exhibition policy also acknowledges art in media other than ceramics. The Mysteries of Place print exhibition curated from the Institute of Electronic Art at Alfred University print archive is a beautiful testament to this guideline. Ceramic Art is a powerful form of expression that reaches across time and across cultures. It touches all aspects of human history and it does not exist alone detached from the broader family of all the arts.

CRISTINA CÓRDOVA: JUNGLA Cristina’s figurative work has established her as one of the preeminent ceramic artists of her generation. Her work renders the figure as a mysterious, sensual force of compelling urgency. Her masterful use of the ceramic medium empowers her work with a mesmerizing, at times uncanny presence. Córdova writes: “At its most basic level, Jungla refers to a region of dense, intractable wilderness that sustains an ongoing Brian Oglesbee Cristina Córdova, Jungla, 2017, ceramic, resin, steel, paper, glass, plastic, evolutionary dance governed by wood, image: Jungle, Puerto Rico, 6' 6" x 18', collection of the artist uncivilized forces. This tropical landscape of my youth is a beacon to an identity, Mysteries of Place: The Cahaba Elisabeth Pellathy, printmaker Scott tying me back to a specific geography River Project is an exhibition of prints Stephens, and sculptor Lee Somers. It is and the sediment of generations.” from the Institute of Electronic Arts, an exploration of mutual interests in the New York State College of Ceramics natural environment and the nature of at Alfred University. The project is an collaboration using new technology for artistic collaboration by new media artist continued

9 Current Exhibitions continued

artistic production. The Cahaba River is Alabama’s longest substantially free flowing waterway with some of the greatest biodiversity, social history and scenic beauty in the South. Work on this project with the Institute of Electronic Arts was made possible with funding from The Schein Joseph Endowment and New York State Council on the Arts.

March 21, 2018, the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum will host in the Museum a performance of A Body in Places by internationally renowned activist, movement artist Eiko Otake whose performances have been commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art and the Walker Art Center among others.

Above: Elisabeth Pellathy, Lee Somers and Scott Stephens, Cahaba River Watershed #3, 2017, shells (Pellathy), intaglio printed over map (Lee), intaglio printed over moss (Stephens) in relief, Laser engraved acrylic sheets printed on Rives BFK, 44" x 30", on loan from Institute of Electronic Arts, Alfred University

Above right: From left – Scott Stephens, Joe Scheer Co-Director/Founder of the Institute for Electronic Arts, Lee Somers and Elisabeth Pellathy in the art school print shop William Johnston Eiko Otake in performance in A Body in Places

10 Zach Lyman Alfred University art school students study Cristina Córdova’s sculpture Jungla Zach Lyman From left: Aldolfo di Salvo, Wayne Higby, Alicia Candiani, Alfred University Randall Chair in Art and Design, Spring, 2018 Caitlin Brown Caitlin Zach Lyman Cristina Córdova, Jackie Pancari and David “Freddy” From left, Cristina Córdova and Leslie Ferrin Fredrickson

11 Upcoming Exhibitions

September 20 – December 30, 2018

Reclaiming Splendor: Ceramic Design by Chunmao Huang, featuring the First Lady of China’s banquet ware. Chunmao (MFA Alfred, 2003) is China’s number one tableware designer. His designs were chosen for the 2014 APEC conference banquet. From that point, he went on to design the First Lady of China’s banquet for the G20 conference and most recently he was invited to design the tableware for the President of China, Xi Jinping’s banquet for the 9th BRICS summit. The actual tableware Chunmao Huang’s tableware for the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) designed for these events will be on summit banquet, Beijing, 2014. Photo courtesy of Chunmao Huang exhibit in the Museum.

Also on view, Song Dynasty Ceramics: Selections from the Jiyuanshanfang Collection, which highlights the major eight kiln groups of Chinese Song ceramics. Pieces from this period are widely considered to be the greatest achievements of ceramic history and have long been celebrated as being the exemplar of excellence

Courtesy Zhang of Howard for scholars and connoisseurs of Chinese, Northern Song Dynasty (960- Chinese aesthetics. 1127), Jun lavender glazed, Lotus Bud, covered water pot, eleventh century, h: 3 3/4", Jiyuanshanfang Collection Courtesy Zhang of Howard Chinese, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), Qingbai Figure of Guanyin, twelfth century, h: 11 ½", Jiyuanshanfang Collection

12 Acquisitions and Promised Gifts

Thanks to the generosity of D. Philip Baker Six beautiful African pots entered the advocacy in support of the Museum for and David R. Bender the Museum was collection thanks to Douglas Dawson. which the Museum is deeply grateful. able to purchase two ceramic pieces and One day during a brief conversation ’s personal collection of a drawing of Stanley Rosen’s from his Mr. Dawson asked if the Museum was teapots also entered the collection - a retrospective. In addition, the Museum interested in African pottery – answer, wonderful gift from his widow Gertrude received a gift from Kim Sobel and Jeffrey “Yes.” A couple of days later a list of Ferguson. This is an especially important McGowan of a major Stanley Rosen piece pieces arrived by email with the statement, gift to the collection, as Ken Ferguson was with connections to Alfred. In 1992 for “for your consideration.” As a result, the a renowned figure of twentieth century an exhibition in the art school’s Fosdick- Museum received a gift of six pieces ceramics, both as an artist and a teacher. Nelson Gallery, entitled 5X7, Robert Turner of African ceramic art. Mr. Dawson's He had strong ties to Alfred, which are selected this very piece as one of his five extraordinary generosity has greatly now celebrated by the acquisition of this sources of inspiration. Stanley Rosen has enriched the collection of the Alfred important group of pieces. also designated two of his extraordinary Ceramic Art Museum. sketchbooks to the Museum as promised It is important also to mention here gifts. This gift is a major gesture, which Brother Thomas is a name many will Patricia S. Criticos’s gift of six Japanese highlights the importance of the Museum’s recognize as an important figure in the porcelain cups by Tomioka Tessai, which commitment to collect drawings by history of twentieth century ceramic art. highlight the history of Zen and its founder American ceramic artists. These sketch A magnificent platter of his entered the whose portrait is painted on the outside books of Stanley’s are a revelation. In Museum’s collection thanks to the vision of surface of each one of these delicate and studying his sketches, one is introduced Mario and Peg Prisco. Their long enduring charming drinking utensils. to Stanley’s remarkable investigatory, support for the Museum reaches back into thinking-feeling process. the early 1970’s when Mario became the Images of artwork from the collections Dean of the Art School at Alfred University. listed above are on pages 14-19. This gift houses a significant message of

The Laitman Collection The Museum is honored to be the recipient of a major group of ceramic pieces as promised gifts from collector-visionary of the American Craft Movement, Nanette Laitman. Her long time support of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York as well as her unparalleled contribution to acknowledging the lives and work of craft artists through the Oral History Project at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art have placed her at the forefront of advocacy in the arts. Nanette Laitman’s promised gifts to the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum include works by: Mary Frank, Richard DeVore, Tip Toland, Robert Brady, Daisy Youngblood, Ken Price among other

Brian Oglesbee well-known ceramic artists. Nanette Laitman with ceramic art works in her collection, 2018

13 Acquisitions and Promised Gifts continued Brian Oglesbee Stanley Rosen, untitled, 1970, ash-glazed stoneware, 10 1/2" x 8 3/4" x 5", gift of D. Philip Baker and David R. Bender, 2018.1

14 Brian Oglesbee Stanley Rosen, untitled, c. 1968, unglazed stoneware, 4" x 11" x 11", gift of D. Philip Baker and David R. Bender, 2018.2 Brian Oglesbee Stanley Rosen, untitled, 1968, charcoal and watercolor on paper, 11" x 8 3/8", gift of D. Philip Baker and David R. Bender, 2018.3

15 Acquisitions and Promised Gifts continued Brian Oglesbee Stanley Rosen, untitled, c. 1967, ash-glazed stoneware, 4 1/2" x 7” x 5 1/2", gift of Kim Sobel and Jeffrey McGowan, 2017.32 Brian Oglesbee Stanley Rosen, sketchbook, c. 1963-64, ink and graphite on paper, 8 1/2" x 11", promised gift of the artist

16 Brian Oglesbee Unknown artist, Mali, Bamana Culture, lamp, early-mid twentieth century, earthenware, unglazed, 22" x 11", gift of Douglas Dawson Gallery, 2017.20 Brian Oglesbee Unknown artist, Ghana, Ashante Culture, pot with lid, early twentieth century earthenware, unglazed, 9" x 16", gift of Douglas Dawson Gallery, 2017.18

17 Acquisitions and Promised Gifts continued Brian Oglesbee Brother Thomas, large plate, circa 2007, porcelain, honan tenmoku glaze, 2 1/2" x 19 1/4", gift of Mario and Peg Prisco, in honor of Dr. Walker and Mary Connor, 2017.14

18 Brian Oglesbee Ken Ferguson, teapot with bamboo handle, 1980s, porcelain, osage wood ash glaze, 11 1/4" x 9 1/8" x 7 1/4", gift of Gertrude Ferguson, 2017.22

19 Museum as Classroom

One of the most significant functions of the Museum and its collection is to promote investigation and scholarship. It is always a good day when there are students in the Museum. Often they are uniquely guided by their professors to look deeply and carefully. Assistant Professor of Art History, Meghen Jones, holds her ceramic art history class each week in the Museum’s seminar room. The study of ceramic art is a window into the history of the world and its people. To investigate the lives and work of artists is to give profound insight into the creative power of the human heart and mind. Grant Akiyama Grant Ruth Easterbrook examining a piece by Betty Woodman Grant Akiyama Grant Nick Weddell examining a fifth century Korean pedestal cup

20 Photos by Grant Akiyama by Grant Photos Chase Travaille examining a piece by Cindy Sherman with Susan Jinsik Yoo examining a piece by Luo Xiao Ping Kowalczyk, Curator of Collections Caitlin Brown Caitlin Visiting Assistant Professor of Ceramic Art, Jason Green, discusses Stanley Rosen’s work with students in his Sophomore Ceramics Class

21 Museum as Classroom continued Caitlin Brown Caitlin Students in the Art School’s Freshman Foundation Class spend hours drawing in the Museum Caitlin Brown Caitlin

22 Staff Profile

Bill Giese, Museum Associate Bill Giese was born and raised in Hornell, New York. Accepting of the admissions desk. the invitation to work at the Museum was like coming home. He facilitates contact with Bill’s great-great-grandmother came to Alfred with her father the Museum membership in the late 1800s; around the same time the potential of the as well as works with the local clay was becoming realized. His great-aunt was the Operations and Programs secretary to Larry Lawrence, Dean of the New York State Manager, Caitlin Brown. College of Ceramics at Alfred University and his grandmother Bill works with the Curator was a librarian at Herrick Library. Bill graduated from The of Collections, Susan College at Brockport, State University of New York in 2016 Kowalczyk, assisting in the with his BFA in Sculpture. After graduating, Bill was a resident organization and care of artist at Sommerville Pottery in the Finger Lakes region of New the permanent collection. Brian Oglesbee York. He was hired as a part-time Museum Assistant at the In addition, he assists the Museum’s Chief Preparator and Alfred Ceramic Art Museum in 2016. In the spring of 2017, Bill Exhibition Specialist, Mahlon Huston, in completing designs was hired full-time at the Museum as a Museum Associate. for the gallery and the installation of art work. Clearly, Bill is an Bill’s position as Museum Associate covers all facets of the indispensable member of the Museum staff. Museum. Bill manages the scheduling and day-to-day running

Endowing the Museum Directorship

A gift from Marlin Miller, Jr. ’54, of Jingdezhen, China. His art work is ’89 HD, a long-time member held in the permanent collections of of our Board of Trustees and museums around the world including at a chair emeritus of our Board, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has endowed the Wayne Higby in , DC, the Metropolitan Art Directorship of our Alfred Ceramic Museum in New York City, the Victoria Art Museum. The gift is in honor and Albert Museum in London, the of Wayne Higby, an internationally National Art Museum of China, Beijing, acclaimed artist and educator, the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, as well as the director and chief and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, curator of the Alfred Ceramic Art Russia. Museum. Wayne earned a BFA Through Marlin Miller’s generous Rick McLay from the University of philanthropic support and Wayne’s at Boulder, and an MFA at the . He artistic and managerial direction our Alfred Ceramic Art joined Alfred University in 1973 after serving on the faculty of Museum became an iconic component of our campus last the School of Design. Wayne is a member of fall, 113 years after a “study collection” of ceramic art was honor of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic started shortly after the founding of the New York State School Arts (an organization that Alfred University played the lead of Clay-working at Alfred University. It is more than fitting that role in launching and that now organizes the largest annual Wayne be the first to fill the position that so aptly celebrates his ceramic art event in the world), a Life Trustee of the Haystack remarkable career at our University. Mountain School of Crafts, the Vice President Emeritus of the International Academy of Ceramics (headquartered in Geneva, Mark Zupan Switzerland), and an honorary citizen of the “Porcelain City” President, Alfred University

23 Ted Randall, planter, 1981, Brian Oglesbee stoneware, unglazed, 11 1/2" x 15", gift of Thomas E. Randall, 1997.127

24 Ted Randall – Metropolitan Museum of Art Lecture, 1959

On February 2, 1959, Ted Randall, Professor of Ceramic Art and Chair of the School of Art and Design, NYSCC at Alfred University, gave a lecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. The lecture was commissioned by the museum upon the occasion of the touring part of the 20th Syracuse Ceramic International, which originated at the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, and was on view at the Met. Randall showed 105 slides and gave the following paper as an introduction.

Edited by Wayne Higby for Ceramophile 2018

Ceramics Today- Symbolic and/or Useful

Introduction Are pottery forms only useful objects? Are pottery forms really symbolic forms? Are they both? Or put another way, has pottery as a creative activity changed in our time into a kind of sculpture with overtones of utility? Has it always had this changing property?

These are the questions most frequently and heatedly argued among potters of today – possibly always have been and probably always will be argued. It’s a special problem of the ceramic medium, in that the medium by its responsive nature offers easy choices to the ceramist. This is not quite true of other mediums.

Evidence of the wide range of choice is furnished by the 20th Syracuse Ceramic International exhibit now showing here at the Museum. Quite a few of the slides you will see were taken from this show. Some are of sculpture, some of pottery and some of “Sculpots,” as they’ve come to be called (referring, of course, to those objects undifferentiated as to either sculpture or pottery).

Evolution of Craft to Art However a ceramist thinks of himself – as sculptor or potter, there seems to be Form general agreement that both have creative activity in common and that pottery is evolving from a craft to an art form. Or rather, it is our notions about it that are changing and the socio-cultural role of the potter as well as the objects he makes are more understandable in the latter context.

Differentiating Inherent Thinking of pottery in these terms, is there anything that differentiates this art form Meaning we call pottery from that art form we call sculpture? I feel there is a special meaning inherent in one and not the other- indeed possible to one and impossible to the other- and that this meaning has a symbolic function useful to the 20th Century man. continued

25 Ceramics Today- Symbolic and/or Useful continued

Two Meanings of Art Symbols The art symbol may have meanings of distinctly different kinds - private and public - one for the individual, another for society. There may not necessarily be a connection and the two are easily confused. Probably, the soundest route to an understanding of private meaning is to be found via speculation as to the artist’s intentions. There must be a cause effect relationship between the forces that generate the art work and the meaning it holds.

Private Meanings and Human I feel there are five main generative forces evident in the work of today. They are Needs operational in character having to do with process. Each of them is generic to rather different meanings and to the degree they sustain those meanings.

These can be put in terms of basic human needs: the need to act to form to know to express to communicate

The satisfaction of those needs may account well enough for creating art and substantiate its various private meanings, but art has a public meaning too. The artist, whether he chooses or no, is still cast in his historical role of symbol maker for the culture he serves. Perhaps, more so today than ever before.

Mimetic Function Symbolic It is frequently said that art has lost its mimetic function in our time and gained a Function symbolic one - the artist no longer holds a mirror up to nature, no longer makes an imitation, or a representation of external things as his eyes see them, but rather Public Meaning a Social makes a reconstruction of human experience visually available to his fellow man. The Function of the Symbol: public meaning of our painting and sculpture does indeed seem more sensible when these are viewed in this latter context, as language forms or symbol systems, rather than as imitations or reflections of nature. Symbol systems have public meanings in the ways in which a society of a culture uses them.

Uncertainty of Symbol If our art is fundamentally symbolic, what is being symbolized is not always clear and Reference may not be precisely knowable. Perhaps, our intuitions can inform us as to what kind of human thought and feeling this painting or that sculpture stands for. Perhaps, we can only have sure knowledge of rather general things. For example, that it is the cultural responsibility of art to symbolize man for men, or that it is tranquility rather than agitation that has been reconstructed in this or that painting.

26 Utility as a Reference The symbols of painting and sculpture have a general reference in the concretized activities of thought and feeling. Pottery as an art form and sculpture as an art form may have much in common. Both may symbolize thought and feeling. But utility narrows the symbol reference for pottery. It also provides it with a stable meaning.

Constructed and Associated This meaning is somewhat constructed, but fundamentally given in an associated Meaning string of experience connecting us with the precarious times of early childhood. Information may be gathered from several separate intellectual disciplines, such as Construction Knowable, physics or history, in order to construct the meaning of a symbol. The constructed Association Unknowable, meaning of a symbol may change, but it can always be generally known. Whereas, Changeable- Constant associational meanings are constant, but unknowable precisely because they string back beyond the reaches of memory. We cannot conceive these, only feel them. That we can’t intellectually conceive them, does not lessen their importance. It only makes it difficult to estimate that importance.

The Pottery Symbol’s Since our generic experiences of pottery forms must have been as food containers, Associational Meaning particularly, at a time in childhood when growth demands for nourishment must have been intense, we can guess that these lost associational meanings of the pottery symbol must be intimately joined with the living of our lives and must be different from those of the sculpture symbol with its more general reference to the varieties of experience.

This is pottery’s distinction and this is its value, for no other symbol system available to society can carry quite this special meaning that results from a profound connection to sustaining life.

About Ted Randall Ted Randall (1914-1985) was associated with the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University for portions of five decades from the 1940s to 1980s, first as a graduate student (M.F.A.1949) and then as a faculty member and administrator (1951-1981). Already an accomplished sculptor with a BFA from Yale prior to his arrival as a graduate student, Randall was known during those five decades at Alfred for his sculpture, functional ceramics and his "sculpots." Chosen as Charles Harder's successor, Ted Randall led the school through its greatest expansion – into becoming a full school of art and design with majors offered in most areas of the visual arts. During this same time period, under Ted's leadership, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) was established.

27 Friends of the Museum Listed below are the individuals or organizations who have It is not too late for you to join and help us provide a broader taken out a new membership or renewed their membership funding base for the Museum. Your membership contribution contribution, contributed to an acquisition, memorial, or capital helps to fund our changing exhibition program, care of campaign fund, provided in-kind services or contributed the permanent collection, and special educational events. ceramic work to the permanent collection, from the period of Membership information is located on the included insert. March 2017 through February 19, 2018.

Visionary Susan S. Hartwell Louis and Sandra Greiff *D. Phillip Baker James M. Jordan ***Patrick M. Lambert Michele and Marty Cohen Margaret Kavesh Lisa D. Miller-Gray and Corning Incorporated **Douglas Dawson Gallery in memory of Richard Kavesh **Brian and Carol Rogers ***Gertrude Ferguson Louise Rosenfield Family *Wayne Higby **Catherine Young Takemoto Posey Bacopoulos Dr. and Mrs. Marlin Miller in memory of Henry T. Takemoto **Grace Caramagna *Mario and Peg Prisco **Judith Weisman in memory of Donald Busteed **Kim Sobel and Jeffrey McGowan ***Richard Wukich Bill Coch and Martha Lash Kiln God Contributing or Business **Benjamin R. Culbertson Brian Oglesbee and Amanda Parry Oglesbee Andover House Antiques *Charles Davis **Boston Valley Terra Cotta Timothy Dormady Benefactor Bulldog Pottery Gholson/Henneke **Jack T. Ericson Dr. Gene M. and Kathy Bernstein *Edward and Louise Bush **Robert and Nancy Ferris *Patricia Criticos Louise Allison Cort Charles and Judith Freyer *Robert Grossman **Rob and Brier Eveland William and Jill Giese Charlotte and Raul Herrera Mr. and Mrs. M. Gregg Gau **Dave and Keiko Hergesheimer **Chad Latz Fritz and Jane Gram Robin Caster Howard and Ben Howard Dr. Stephen J. Levine *Elizabeth Gulacsy Linda Huey and David Dronsick **Jim and Peg Miller **Suzanne Hill **Richard and Nancy Hunter *Sylvia Rosen *Roald Hoffmann Joseph and Christine Kovacs *Dean Spong **Susan Jamison Ted Lyon Richard and Martha Widdicombe **Cass Johnson **Guadalupe Marroquin **Mark Zupan **Matt Kelleher and Shoko Teruyama Frances Marx Patron **Benjamin Krevolin Joseph and Elizabeth Menichino Stephen S. Alpert in memory of Lewis and Jenny Krevolin Casey O’Connor **Roberta Auerbach **Dr. Lisa Lantz Mr. and Mrs. Roger H. Porter, Jr. Bailey Pottery Equipment Corp. **Lawson Products, Inc. **Janine T. Reif **Caitlin and Cory Brown in memory of Lewis Krevolin **Stanley Rosen and Jane Sobel *Mary Louise Carter *Lorraine Manelis Carl Shanahan *Helen Drutt English **Colleen McCall **Josh Teplitzky *Jennifer and Roger Fajman *David and Elizabeth Miller **Nick Tobier and Rebekah Modrack in memory of Mario Prisco *Sally Mueller Ward and Debra Votava **Becky and Warren Gottsegen Pamela Riley Osborn **Michael Ward and Bruce Whipple Susan Greene Jacqueline Pancari and David Fredrickson *Choichiro and Nanako Yatani **Grant Holcomb Megan Parry and Lesley Brill Individual **Susan Kowalczyk and Peter Franklin *Paul D. Parkman Art Research Library, Diane Mendez **Robyn Peterson Los Angeles County Museum of Art *Carleton B. and Diane Moore in honor of Susan Kowalczyk Zoë Coombs **Catherine M. Powers Pucker Gallery **Sharon DeJonge *Charles Duryea Smith and Ruth G. Smith **David and Angela Rossington **Beth Ann Dobie in memory of Lewis and Jenny Krevolin Judith Salomon and Jerry Weiss **Ron Fuchs in memory of Mario Prisco **Ben Schore and Katherine Rines **Barry Jacobson Kathryn and Lawrence Thomas ***Steuben Trust Company Sydney Leach *Joan and Fred Waring The Telfeyan Family Olin Library, Cornell University **Wellsville Creative Art Center Brier and John Turner Carole Onoda **John Thomas Turner Ceramic Connoisseur **Lisa K. Orr *Jay Yedvab ***Lois Anderson John E. Pilshaw *Stan and Marge Zielinski E. John Bullard III ***Nancy Ramage *John Copoulos Sustaining **Alex Reed *Wayne O. Craig Gerald and Mary-Louise Cartledge ***Susanne Stephenson * *Sherman Clarke

28 For membership information, please visit us at ceramicsmuseum.alfred.edu or see our Membership Card Wallace Library, Barbara Dobie **Pandora Snethkamp Rochester Institute of Technology Bonnie Enke ***Steven Stegner Thomas J. Watson Library, **Heidi Friederich Elaine Swiler Metropolitan Museum of Art **Beatriz Jevremovic Susan Tunick *Anne W. Wright Nicholas Johnson Arthur J. Williams **Joan Lyons **Hope Zaccagni Senior/ Student **Eugenia Frith Meltzer Paul Zaloom Joanne Allen **Jim Messineo Fred Amram Susan Montgomery * increase **Jean Chamberlain Jane Pleak ** new membership **Carol Clarke Nancy Reuning *** returning member Herbert Cohen Joseph Rubin Geoff Councill Jan Schachter

Tours: Group tours should be scheduled two weeks in advance.

Cameras: Photography is permitted only with handheld cameras and electronic flash in permanent collection exhibit areas only. No photos may be taken of travelling exhibitions. No photographs taken in the Museum may be reproduced, distributed, or sold without permission from the Museum. Parking

Checkroom: All umbrellas, parcels and bags must be checked Park Street

•••• Advisory Board Pine Street Marlin Miller, Chair, Reading, PA Michele Cohen, NY, NY ••••••••••••••• Charlotte Herrera, Webster, NY Main Street (Rt. 12) Grant Holcomb, Rochester, NY Robert Pfannebecker, Lancaster, PA

Directions Staff From Interstate 86, Exit 33 in Almond, follow signs to Alfred University. Wayne Higby, Director and Chief Curator From Main Street in Alfred, turn left onto Pine Street at the traffic light, Susan Kowalczyk, Curator of Collections and Director of Research proceed across the bridge over the stream of consciousness and Caitlin Brown, Operations and Programs Manager turn left immediately. The Museum will be on the right, and parking is Mahlon Huston, Chief Preparator and Exhibitions Specialist behind the Museum. Bill Giese, Museum Associate Hours Grant Akiyama, Museum Attendant Tuesday 10am – 5pm Christin Farina, Museum Attendant Wednesday 10am – 5pm Emily Krutsch, Museum Attendant Thursday 10am – 7pm Leilah Stone, Museum Assistant Friday 10am – 5pm Student Assistants/Interns: Jessica Ailaca, Audrey An, Polina Arteev, Saturday 10am – 4pm Luci Busch, Hunter Cady, Jeffrey Close, Genevieve Cromwell, Rudy Sunday 10am – 4pm Derrera, Sophia DiPaulo, Adrianna Enoch, Skyler Gasper, Nicholas Gelo, Sara Hake, Paige Klinger, Erin Nevin, Hailey Stammer, Esme Closed Mondays and major holidays. Saccuccimorano, Helen Waterman Please call for exhibition information and closing announcement.

Design: Rick McLay Admission $7 Adults (18-54) Editor: Susan Kowalczyk $5 55+ 4M 3/2018 $3 Local Residents, non-Alfred students with ID, alumni, Back Cover: Cristina Córdova Jungla, February 2 – July 29, 2018 AAA and Military Photo by Brian Oglesbee FREE 17 & Under, AU and A-State faculty, staff and students (with ID) Admission is FREE for Museum members, ESMRP and NARM 607·871·2421 members year-round ceramicsmuseum.alfred.edu [email protected] Admission is also free from 5-7 pm Thursdays

@alfredceramicartmuseum

29 Alfred University 1 Saxon Drive Alfred, NY 14802 ceramicsmuseum.alfred.edu